Andy Burnham is set to take to the DJ decks again, facing off against Angela Rayner, Liverpool mayor Steve Rotheram, and Manc legends including Clint Boon and Rowetta.
The huge event has been created with the support of Warehouse Project to raise funds for the Greater Manchester Mayor’s Charity for A Bed Every Night.
Deputy Labour leader Angela Rayner has now been added to the bill and will be getting behind the decks at the charity event, alongside Manc music legends.
The event will see Burnham battling against Steve Rotheram in a musical head-to-head between Manchester and Liverpool.
It’s taking place at Depot Mayfield, the home of Warehouse Project, on Friday 2 December – and we’ve got an exclusive discount for £1 tickets for The Manc readers.
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All proceeds from bar sales on the night will go to support those who are experiencing or at risk of rough sleeping in Greater Manchester.
The line-up will be headlined by Andy Burnham and Steve Rotheram (who first battled behind the DJ decks in lockdown), with guest appearances from Angela Rayner, Nihal Arthanayake, Stanley Chow, Clint Boon and Rowetta, plus guest DJs from the Warehouse Project.
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Andy Burnham doing a live-streamed DJ set during lockdown. Credit: GMCA
Angela said: “I can’t wait to get on the decks and show everyone why Manchester is clearly the best city when it comes to music. I’ve got a lot of love for Scousers, but Team Liverpool will be second best on Saturday night.
“I’m delighted to be taking part in this event and helping to raise money for such a fantastic cause. I hope you like the songs I’ve picked. It was hard to narrow it down to three because there are so many Manchester music legends!”
Mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham said: “We all know Manchester has the greatest musical heritage and I’ll be giving it my all in the set to prove that point once and for all. There’s serious pride at stake here.
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We're raising money for the brilliant @GMMayorsCharity initiative A Bed Every Night & powered by @WHP_Mcr
“But competition aside, our passion for music unites our two city regions. What better way to put on an amazing celebration of our region’s culture and raise money for important causes, to support those who need it most at what is a really difficult time.”
Mayor of Liverpool City Region, Steve Rotheram said: “There can be no debate: the Liverpool City Region is the undisputed home of British music. We’ve given the world some of the greatest artists, albums and songs of all time – no area has had more number one hits than us.
“The fact we beat off competition from cities across the UK to host next year’s Eurovision Song Contest on behalf of Ukraine speaks to our world-leading reputation as the UK’s premier music scene – and it’s a legacy we’re continuing today.”
The battle is supported by The Warehouse Project, Elevate and Badger & Combes.
Launched in 2018 by Andy Burnham and supported by the Charity, A Bed Every Night provides emergency accommodation for anyone rough sleeping across the city-region, regardless of status, as well as vital personal support.
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Since its launch, A Bed Every Night has helped over 4,000 people and been instrumental in reducing rough sleeping in the region since its peak in 2017. But due to the current cost of living and energy crisis, there is an increased need to offer support this winter.
Currently, there are 619 people in A Bed Every Night accommodation across Greater Manchester who would otherwise be at risk of rough sleeping, with 21 organisations across the region providing accommodation.
To get your ticket for £1 (plus fees), use the code: TheManc – get yours here.
Featured image: Ramona / Supplied
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Pitbull at Co-op Live, Manchester – please, don’t stop the party
Daisy Jackson
How bizarre it must be to be Pitbull. This is a man with, by all accounts, a pretty successful music career – but how bizarre for his trajectory to kick up so sharply now, 20 years after his debut album.
Watching the rapper, now 44 years old, dominate sold-out arenas across the world and become a social media sensation and something of a cult phenomenon is a joy to behold.
Who else could lead tens of thousands of people a night to party wearing a bald cap and a drawn-on goatee? Manchester donned their Pitbull costumes en masse and town looked all the better for it yesterday.
For anyone having even a hint of ‘I don’t get it’ in their minds, you’ve forgotten what nightclubs were like in the late 2000s. An era where we would post 80 blurry photos on Facebook from one night out, and our makeup bags were just Dream Matte Mousse and a kohl eyeliner.
It’s the same era where dance floors were absolutely dominated by Pitbull hits, from Hotel Room Service to Give Me Everything to International Love.
So his tour returning to Manchester feels like stepping back in time for all the 30-somethings in town, who all (myself included) decided to party like there were no consequences (currently staring into my cup of tea and remembering why I don’t usually drink wine on a school night).
The best thing about this gig is the way it strips all pretension away from all 23,500 people inside the Co-op Live. While we’d normally spend hours pampering and preening for a show to look our best, here we all stick a bald cap and a suit jacket on just let loose in a sea of people wearing the exact same uniform. I have never heard so many people breathlessly giggling their way through a show before.
And while the gig itself is quite silly and camp (there are scantily-clad dancers everywhere and the guy in charge of the pyrotechnics is pretty trigger-happy), there are some properly talented musicians on stage too.
Pitbull is backed by multiple percussionists, keyboards, guitars, woodwind and more, and his Latino roots shine with songs like Culo and Gasoline, where the dancers salsa and his hips get extra wriggly.
Pitbull staring out at his fans between songs in ManchesterPitbull brought the party to Manchester
We came because it’s silly but we stayed because it’s GOOD.
Prolific songwriter (‘Life is not a waste of time, time is not a waste of life. So let’s not waste any time, get wasted, and have the time of our lives’), party-starter, and philanthropist (he’s funded tuition-free schools in his hometown of Miami), Pitbull is soaking in every inch of the success that’s come his way.
On stage at Co-op Live in Manchester, the lights come up between songs to Pitbull stood on his little platform, grinning cheesily and looking over his assembled mini Pitbulls like a proud overlord. This man is having the time of his life.
Liam Gallagher teases post-Oasis reunion tour plans online
Danny Jones
Liam Gallagher is at it on social media again, and prior to a random posting spree in the early hours on Monday morning, he might have actually shed some light on his plans after the Oasis reunion tour over the weekend.
As always with anything the ever-vocal frontman says online, we urge you to take this with a pinch of salt.
Nevertheless, we’ve allowed ourselves to get very excited and hopeful that the Live ’25 tour isn’t just a one-off and that Oasis are back for good, at least as far as the younger Gallagher brother is concerned.
The latest excuse to be optimistic comes after Liam responded to a fan on Twitter asking whether or not people thought he would retire after the reunion shows, to which he simply responded:
Retire and make all the haters day not a fucking chance I’m in it right till last breath cmon you know
The co-manager and Ignition Management partner also told the outlet that there was currently no new music in the works. However, it was only recently that Liam himself – responding via X, once again – appeared to tell fans that a new album was already “in the bag”.
As for his response to McKinlay claims back in May, the 52-year-old simply posted: “The only people that will be making any kind of decisions on the future of OASIS will be ME & RKID, so let’s just take it one day at a time.”
He also confirmed the support acts and full reunion band lineup on the platform, too, so he’s not always just shouting aimlessly into the void for his own amusement. One can only hope…
Fingers crossed that both Liam and Noel Gallagher have plans for a VERY big finish to the reunion.
Both brothers are finally back in rehearsals ahead of the worldwide sellout shows this summer, and a number of apparent audio clips revealing how the comeback is sounding have appeared on the internet.
As well as being pictured attending the sessions in London, some supposed ‘setlists’ have also been leaked, though Liam himself has rubbished at least one image as an outright “FAKE” in his replies.
In fairness, the nation and fans all over the globe have waited so long that they’d probably be happy hearing pretty much any combination of songs at this point.
So yeah, only time will tell how serious he was being; then again, these are his most recent posts…